After a heartbreaking 107-106 loss at the hands of the Sacramento Kings last night in Sacramento, the Sixers will look to bounce back tonight in the Rocky Mountains as they’ll continue their west coast road trip by paying a visit to the Pepsi Center, the home of the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets have been struggling to find consistency in the win column all season, leading to a subpar record, resulting in the firing of their head coach Brian Shaw on March 4th. Interim coach, Melvin Hunt, has taken the reigns of the team since then and has somewhat rejuvenated the entire Nuggets team. Since the firing on March 4th, Denver is 7-5 and consistently playing much improved basketball. They have had some really impressive wins in recent weeks which would indicate this team is going in the right direction moving forward, including wins against the East leading Atlanta Hawks and the NBA’s best Golden State Warriors. Coach Melvin Hunt has won four of his first five games at the Pepsi Center and he’ll be seeking his fourth consecutive victory at home versus Philadelphia tonight.
As for the Sixers, they’re recent road troubles have been haunting this team recently. At this point, I’m not sure they could buy a win on the road. Away from the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers have been downright miserable, losers of 16 straight, and haven’t won a road game since a win came in Brooklyn back on January 9th. This is one reason why Tuesday’s heartbreaking, final minute loss in Sacramento is such a dagger to the team mentally. They were so close to finally getting off the road losing streak but, unfortunately, they still find themselves on that same streak today pretty much because of one man, DeMarcus Cousins.
Cousins single-handedly ruined the Sixers hopes to win again last night. After posting a triple-double in Philadelphia a few weeks back, DeMarcus went off again last night, this time in his home building. The Sacramento Center finished the game with 33 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, four blocks, and four steals, but was held to just 8/27 from the floor. Noel didn’t do a terrible job covering him and held him to an abysmal shooting percentage, but this man is just an absolute tank down low. Noel got in foul trouble and allowed Cousins to spend almost his entire night at the free-throw line where he managed to connect on 17 foul shots. Although Cousins dominated, Noel responded nicely and finished with a double-double of his own, including 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and forced six blocks. Only problem was when Noel left the floor in the third due to foul trouble, the Kings went on a big run led by Cousins down low.
The Sixers scored a lot of points in Tuesday’s loss to the Kings but they also committed 21 turnovers, one of which was in the final seconds with an opportunity to win the game. 21 turnovers is not going to win basketball games and it is something Coach Brett Brown talked about after the loss. They have to improve their ball-handling and they can’t continue to be so careless with the rock.
Although Denver has been hot at home in recent weeks, the Sixers have won in three of their last four trips to the Mile High City, and they defeated the Nuggets 105-98 back at the Wells Fargo Center on February 3rd. For the Sixers to prevail in tonight’s game, they’ll have to contain Danilo Gallinari, who has been a scoring machine recently, and Philly product, Jameer Nelson, who is determined to end the Nuggets disappointing year on a positive note after coming over from Boston just a few weeks ago.
Game Notes:
- In 11 of the Sixers’ 17 wins the team has committed 16 or fewer turnovers. It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over.
- The Sixers are now just four road losses away from tying their record of 20 consecutive losses away from home, which occurred back in the 1987-88 season.
- Danilo Gallinari is coming off a career-high 40 points in the Nuggets win over the Magic on Sunday. Sixers must focus on him.
- Thomas Robinson of the Sixers is coming off a career-high 16 points last night in Sacramento.
- Denver forces 13.5 turnovers per game and the Sixers will look to keep their turnovers around that number tonight or else things could get ugly.
- Sixers lead the all-time series, 45-34.
Injury Report:
Sixers- Tony Wroten (partially torn ACL in right knee, out), Jason Richardson (rest, out) and Joel Embiid (right foot stress fracture, out).
Nuggets- None
Projected Starters:
Sixers
PG- Ish Smith
SG- JaKarr Sampson
SF- Jason Richardson
PF- Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
C- Nerlens Noel
Nuggets
PG- Ty Lawson
SG- Randy Foye
SF- Wilson Chandler
PF- Danilo Gallinari
C- Kenneth Faried
Game Prediction: Sixers will look better and not commit a thousand turnovers in the second half again, but the Nuggets pull out a victory in the end, 103-96. They’re just too hot at home right now to bet against them.
